Could Angela win?

Submitted by Anastasia Pantsios on Sun, 10/28/2012 - 9:02pm.

As regular Ohio Daily Blog readers know, I have been closely following the races of four intrepid women running for Congress in districts gerrymandered to be Republican but with aspects to that redistricting that disfavor the Republican incumbents.

One of those is Angela Zimmann's in northwest Ohio, where she's challenging a blob of do-nothingness named Bob "Who?" Latta. With northwest Ohio's entire economy riding on the auto industry, he opposed the bailout. She has promised a laser focus on job creation. Unlike Kasich, she won't pivot to abortion: she's totally pro-choice.

She was endorsed by the Toledo Blade, the biggest paper in the district (In order to pit Marcy Kaptur and Dennis Kucinich against each other, the mapmakers had to throw a piece of Toledo into Latta's district, not that helpful for him).

Now her campaign is claiming the race is a dead heat. You always take such campaign claims with a grain of salt but hey — who knows?

That is why I am posting the following email from her campaign manager and suggesting you give Angela a few hours of your time if you are free and anywhere in the area. If you'd like to know more about volunteering, you can call campaign headquarters at 419-617-0005 or email Tara Thobe at tarat@zimmannforcongress.com.

We knew from the beginning that this would be a tight race. Now we know that Congressman Bob Latta knows this race is close, too.

For the first time in his political career, Congressman Latta is pulling out all the stops: spending hundreds of thousands in ads, going on the attack against Angela Zimmann, and even using his congressional staff to reach out to voters.

Put simply, the numbers are showing that this race is a dead heat.

That's why we need your help. We can win this, but only with your support. This race is too close to stand by - so be sure to get involved before it's too late.

Join us at campaign headquarters (126 W. South Boundary Street in Perrysburg) and volunteer whatever time you have from now through Election Day. We need you to contact voters and let them know why you're supporting Angela.

More importantly, we need you to tell voters why they should too.

So bring your phones, invite your friends and family, and be ready to tell voters why you believe Angela Zimmann is the very best candidate for northwest Ohio's families and communities.

For many voters, all it takes is someone like you reaching out and sharing your story.

We've got less than 9 days left. Let's win this.

Dan Lipner

Thanks, Dan.

And I have to add that whether this race is a dead heat or not, it's much more encouraging to tell people there's a shot at victory if only they pitch in than to send out one of those panicky emails screaming about how much you're being outspent. Judging from the emails I get, Karl Rove is dumping about a trillion dollars into every race in the country. Lower the volume, people.